Toribeno is an old burrial ground since the Heian period in the Higashiyama 東山 area near Mt. Amidagamine 阿弥陀が峰 in Kyoto.TORIBENO has been a word used in poetry since the "Pillow Book" of Sei Shonagon and the Tales of Genji.

The grave of emperess Fujiwara no Teishi 皇后藤原定子 is there, together with a large burial area of unknown or executed people.In olden times, dead bodies where exposed here to the birds, but when Buddhist priest Kobo Daishi Kukai passed here in 811, he taught the local farmers to burry the deat in the ground and pray for them. He founded the temple GochiYama Nyoraiji 五智山如来寺 for this purpose.

Later Saint Honen came to this area and it came to be known as Temple Adashino Nenbutsuji 化野念仏寺. (See below.) There are more than 8000 grave stones and mounds in the area. Every year on August 23, 24 a special light service is held for the souls of the dead.

The graveyard was later relocated to Western Kyoto, near Temple Kiyomizu.The living quarters of Issa in Gion, Kyoto where close to this location.

The present day Toribeno is an extensive graveyard near Temple Kiyomizu-dera. It has been relocated here by Taira no Kiyomori.Nearby is the Temple Rokuhara Mitsuji 六波羅蜜寺. Rokuhara area was the headquarters of the Taira clan at the end of the Heian era.

Due to changes in the palace politics, Genji abruptly decides to leave for exile to the remote coast of Suma. Before leaving he visits his deceased wife's residence, where his friend, the First Secretary's Captain lives. While there, Genji, visiting with the women who had served his wife, decides to stay the night with one of them.At dawn, the traditional time of parting was made even sadder by knowing Genji might never return here again. When the Great Princess sent him a note saying it was a pity he could not stay to see his son, Lord Evening Mist, Genji whispered as if to himself while he wept:

if going toshores where fisherfolk'ssalt fires burnthere is smoke risingas from the cemetery

Poor people, usually women, living along the coast derived some income from boiling sea water down for its salt or burning gathered sea weeds for minerals contained in the ash to be used as fertilizer. Though the work was hard, wet and dirty, poets found a wealth of images in the process: dripping wet sleeves, briny tears, fires on lonely beaches, smoke like that of the crematoriums. Mount Toribe (toribeyama) was the customary place of cremation and burial for Kyoto.

Bon, the Buddhist Festival of the Dead, is celebrated throughout Japan, but exact dates vary from region to region. Kyoto traditionally observes Bon Aug. 7-16, and, not surprisingly, given its more than 1,200 years of history and strong Buddhist traditions, the town has some unique ways of paying tribute to the holiday.

As Bon approaches, the main guests, the o-shorai-san (Kyoto dialect for ancestral spirits) must be summoned from "the other side." In Kyoto this entails paying a visit to either Rokudo Chinkoji or Senbon Shakado, two temples traditionally assumed to be able to perform this intermediary service.

Located near the famous cemetery of Toribeno, Rokudo Chinkoji 六道珍皇寺(Rokudo-no-Tsuji, square in front of the Chinno-ji) slumbers for most of the year in relative obscurity. During the period Aug. 7-10, however, the temple precincts witness a steady stream of people arriving between 6 a.m. and midnight to ring the temple bell. Unlike those of other temples, Chinkoji's bronze bell is struck by pulling, rather than pushing, its wooden "clapper." By ringing this bell, you are said to be able to pull your ancestors' spirits back to this world.

Chinkoji's role as an ancestor summoner seems to have derived from its associations with 9th-century statesman Ono no Takamura, who, the story goes, made a trip to the underworld via a well located on the temple grounds. On his return, Takamura was allowed by Enma, the king of the dead, to bring some souls back with him. As a mode of conveyance, Takamura is said to have utilized a branch of koyamaki, or yew, which explains why sprigs of this tree are to be found on sale here during these four days. Back when almost every Kyoto home had its own well, the koyamaki purchased here was taken home and dropped down it.

Two other temples in the vicinity, Rokuhara Mitsuji and Saifukuji, will also be busy at this time hosting parishioners engaged in Bon preparations.

Temple Rokuhara Mitsuji, whose main hall dates back to the 12th century, is well worth a visit if only to see the statue of its founder, Kuya, housed in its museum. A mendicant priest, Kuya roamed the streets of the often epidemic-scourged capital preaching the nenbutsu, a democratic doctrine promising rebirth in the Western Paradise to anyone who simply chanted Amida Buddha's name. Rokuhara Mitsuji's somewhat startling statue depicts the wizened holy man, staff in hand, regurgitating a row of six tiny Buddhas from his mouth, each little Amida image representing a syllable of the nenbutsu chant.

Nearby Saifukuji 西福寺 houses several statues of Jizo, a protective deity who consoles the souls of dead children. Between Aug. 8-10, however, the main attraction at this tiny temple will be its display of jigoku-e (hell pictures), which graphically depict the decay of corpses as well as the torments awaiting sinners in the next life.

Mackenzie's note:In Heian times the cuckoo was sometimes associated with 'the hill of death'.

Buson has the following haiku:

hototogisu hitsugi o tsukamu kumo ma yori

A 'hototogisu',Snatching at the coffin,From between the clouds.trans. Blyth

a mountain cuckoosnatches at the coffinfrom between cloudstrans. Ueda

Blyth and Ueda have similar comments; I will give Ueda's:

"The... hokku is another example of Buson's gothic taste, as it describes a funeral procession on a cloudy day. Suddenly from the black clouds there comes a mountain cuckoo's sharp cry, so ghastly that it sounds as if it were reaching for the coffin. The image evokes legends and folktales of that tell of a sky monster stretching its arm from the clouds and snatching up a corpse carried on a bier."

Blyth mentions that, as a result, "the spirit will be left without a body."

Blyth explains that this is based on a well-known revenge story involving the Soga brothers. Blyth then says:

"Here Kyorai imagines the two brothers as they approach the tent of Suketsune [upon whom they are seeking revenge]. A 'hotototgisu' suddenly cries, as if in omen of the coming death, and the two brothers instinctively turn their faces to each other in the darkness."

Then there is this anonymous haiku:

sono ato wa meido de kikan hototogisu

Ah, 'hototogisu'!I will hear the rest of the songIn the land of the dead.Anonymous, trans. Blyth

And finally, here is a picture of the hototogisu, "in its typically wooded environment." The bird is hard to make out clearly, but it doesn't seem particularly ugly. A note accompanying the picture says:

"The hototogisu is associated in some myths and stories, and poems, as a messenger for lonely souls in the world of the dead."